Authorities bust huge network of child pornography

HAMILTON — The attorney general announced a huge statewide child pornography bust Wednesday that led to the arrest of 24 men and one juvenile.

Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa said the arrests were part of “Operation Ever Vigilant,” which sought to take possession and punish those responsible for obscene child rape videos, among other child porn.

Two of the men arrested were from Mercer County — Duane Bell, 43, of Lawrence and Giovanni Jimenez, 37, of Trenton. There also were two men arrested from Burlington County, William Payton II, 20 of Mount Holly and Frank Sysk II, 19, of Browns Mills.

Each of the 25 men were charged with second degree Distribution of Child Pornography and fourth degree Possession of Child Pornography.

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The Digital Technology Investigations Unit of the State Police began the investigation approximately three months ago by searching for New Jersey residents who were making child pornography, including child rape videos, available to others. These files show pre-pubescent boys and girls being sexually molested by being penetrated, or by being coerced into performing sexual acts on themselves, or others.

The charged defendants come from all walks of life, but each was found to be in possession of multiple sexually explicit videos of young children, which they had made available to others, Chiesa said.

“Anyone who views and distributes child pornography — particularly the type of child rape videos targeted in this operation — puts himself in league with the predators who sexually assault children to create these videos,” said Chiesa. “The children they watch being tortured are violated again by their actions, and these offenders may pose a danger to other children because of their predilections. We will remain ever vigilant to stop this predatory behavior against children.”

“Everyone sitting in the seclusion of their darkened homes viewing child rape videos has victimized these innocents by creating the market for this disgusting material. There’s no room for them to say, ‘I haven’t hurt anyone,’” said Colonel Rick Fuentes, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. “With our partners, we will continue to uncover this behavior, and arrest all those involved.”

Five of those arrested had direct contact with young children, including two defendants who are alleged to be regular babysitters. Another defendant is a registered sex offender. Stephen Rainone, of South Amboy, is listed on the state’s sex offender Internet registry as a Tier 2 offender for sexual assault of girls under 13 years of age. Defendant Brent Ailiff of West Berlin remains in jail on $100,000 cash bail. A field preview of Ailiff’s digital storage media revealed hundreds of child pornography files. Four of those arrested remain incarcerated on detainers for being in the country without legal status. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents assisted in the processing of these subjects.

These videos and images are passed back and forth among users through emails and by way of file sharing networks. Those in possession of the illegal images often make them available on computers that they control for others to download. Because many of these videos and photos keep recirculating, they make perpetual victims of the children abused in the production of child pornography.

All of the investigations are still considered ongoing since computer media seized as evidence have been turned over to the New Jersey Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory (RCFL) for a thorough examination. This lab, located in the Technical Center in Hamilton, is a partnership with the FBI and is staffed with personnel from several different agencies including the NJSP.